BOK Financial launches mortgage finance line of business

BOK Financial recently announced the launch of its new mortgage finance line of business, a new vertical dedicated to meeting the credit needs of nonbank mortgage originators across the country.

As a top 10 dealer of mortgage-backed securities that offers trading liquidity to more than 500 counterparties, BOK Financial has supported its client base for more than two decades. The addition of mortgage finance will create a full-service ecosystem tailored to the needs of the company’s client base.

The team will be led by managing director of mortgage finance Donnie Martin, who joined BOK in October 2024.

“Our initial flagship offering will be warehouse lending, aimed at alleviating many of the challenges faced by independent mortgage bankers today. Our desire is to have a partnership rather than a transactional relationship with our customers, providing unique and entrepreneurial solutions to each client’s needs,” Martin said in an interview with HousingWire.

Martin confirmed that in addition to warehouse lending, which will be launched this summer, BOK will also offer mortgage servicing rights (MSR) financing and other forms of financing.

Martin said that starting with warehouse lending was an easy decision.

“When you look at the mortgage finance space, you know, warehouse lending is probably the largest — not everybody services loans, so not everybody needs MSR lines,” he said. “And as we looked across at our clients that we’re doing business with today, through that structured finance group, we do business with all shapes and sizes.

“We do business with guys that might do $25 million a month, and we do business with guys that are doing billions of dollars a month. One common thread between them all is they all use warehouse lines,” he added.

Martin said that his past roles — including as a senior vice president of mortgage finance strategy and product at City National Bank — are influencing his road map as he takes on a new endeavor and helps to create a full-service ecosystem at BOK Financial.

“We’ll build as the need arises. So one great thing about the team that we have here is, while we are a commercial bank, we do have a number of mortgage experts,” he said.

“I think that’s one of the things that our clients will appreciate, is when they do have a complex task, we could think through it from a mortgage perspective combined with banking, rather than just a banking perspective.”

Given BOK’s influence in the MSR space, Martin said he’s confident that the company’s preexisting value will translate well into the new mortgage finance line of business.

“If you’re an independent mortgage banker and you have counterparties, you’ve got to maintain your counterparty risk. … In addition, if you’re sharing your financials or other documents with one group of the bank, you know, when you initiate a new relationship, it’s like starting fresh,” he explained.

“So we’ll take into consideration the fact that you’re trading with us, and you’re going to take down a warehouse line with us …. [and] the economics of those two things together, rather than just singularly or individually on their own.”

Marty Grunst, chief financial officer for BOK Financial, called the move an “exciting step” for the organization.

“By combining credit, capital markets and Treasury solutions with a relationship-driven approach, we are in a position to provide a comprehensive solution for independent mortgage bankers,” Grunst said. “With the mortgage finance team’s experience, technology and risk management expertise, this fits well within our longstanding approach to credit.”

“This effort reflects our long-term commitment to relationship banking. We’re bringing deep institutional expertise together with a team that understands this market and can move quickly on behalf of clients,” he added.